If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Gordon, 46, along with Franc Cano, 29, is suspected of killing four Orange County women who had ties to prostitution. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office this year announced it is seeking the death penalty for both men (...)

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — Opening statements are expected Wednesday in the trial of a sex offender accused of raping and killing four women during a murderous spree in Orange County while wearing a GPS tracking device.

Steven Dean Gordon, 47, of Anaheim is due in an Orange County courtroom on four counts of murder and four counts of rape.

Gordon is representing himself at trial. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Gordon and registered sex offender Franc Cano, 30, were both wearing GPS devices for prior offenses when they raped and killed four women in 2013 and 2014, authorities said.

A sex offender accused of killing four prostitutes blamed federal parole agents during his trial on Monday for the death of one of the women, saying the officials didn’t do a good enough job tracking his movements.
Steven Gordon, who is representing himself in his murder trial, told a U.S. probation and parole officer that if the agent and his colleagues had been paying closer attention to GPS data from Gordon’s ankle monitor, 21-year-old Jarrae Estepp would still be alive.

“Because of your negligence, she is not,” Gordon said in finishing his cross examination.

Snip - BBM:
Accused as a serial killer and facing the possibility of the death penalty, Steven Dean Gordon fired his public defender and insisted on representing himself.

He made little effort to defend himself at trial in Orange County Superior Court, however. Instead, he raged against his codefendant and railed against the parole and probation departments once charged with monitoring him as a sex offender, scolding agents for not watching him more closely.

Gordon admitted to participating in the abduction of all four women and of either abetting or committing the murders in league with codefendant Franc Cano, who is expected to go on trial next year.

It took jurors about an hour Thursday to find him guilty of murdering four women who were working the prostitution corridors of Anaheim and Santa Ana in late 2013 and early 2014.

Jurors will gather again next week for the penalty phase of the trial, to decide whether Gordon, 47, should be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Took an hour to convict! I see he admitted his guilt in closing and took all the blame (credit).

Who is the fifth woman???

“I am ultimately the one responsible for these five young women’s death,” Gordon told jurors during his closing argument Thursday, referring to four named victims and to a fifth who has never been identified.*

Took an hour to convict! I see he admitted his guilt in closing and took all the blame (credit).

Who is the fifth woman???

“I am ultimately the one responsible for these five young women’s death,” Gordon told jurors during his closing argument Thursday, referring to four named victims and to a fifth who has never been identified.*

I'm confused about the potential fifth victim. She was described by LE (no name given). Was that description (below) given to police by Gordon, or did police have a missing woman who they figured might be the fifth victim?

The bodies of three of the four women have not been recovered, Anaheim police Lt. Bob Dunn said, and police this week scoured county streets for tips that might lead to a fifth victim, described as an African-American woman, in her early 20s, petite with numerous tattoos. Police said she may have ties to the city of Compton.http://www.ocregister.com/articles/c...on-estepp.html

I'm confused about the potential fifth victim. She was described by LE (no name given). Was that description (below) given to police by Gordon, or did police have a missing woman who they figured might be the fifth victim?

The bodies of three of the four women have not been recovered, Anaheim police Lt. Bob Dunn said, and police this week scoured county streets for tips that might lead to a fifth victim, described as an African-American woman, in her early 20s, petite with numerous tattoos. Police said she may have ties to the city of Compton.http://www.ocregister.com/articles/c...on-estepp.html

Thank you! That is number 5. Linked article goes on to say:

This fifth victim was last seen between Feb. 14 and Feb.16, near Katella and Orangewood avenues, or Beach Boulevard north of Katella Avenue, police said. She may have checked into a hotel and has not checked out.

It's a little surprising to me that this case isn't getting more traction with the media.

Gordon and Cano are an effin' nightmare. Literally hunting, raping, and killing people's daughters and sisters...........all while under court-mandated monitoring even. Scary and very sad for the families of their victims.

I suspect that Gordon will be sentenced to death after his penalty phase trial next week, and that Cano will also be found guilty and sentenced to death next year.

I don't really care whether these two POSs live or die as long as they never step foot out of a cage again. But, since the state has spent the money pursuing the death penalty and these two soulless predators are so very deserving of the worst possible punishment, I hope prosecutors succeed in putting them both on death row.

Snip:Before the verdict, Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick H. Donahue warned family members of the victims watching from the audience to avoid any outbursts of emotion because jurors must return to court next week for the penalty phase of Gordon’s trial.

Gordon seemed at ease as he waited for the jury to come into the courtroom, laughing at one point as he glanced over at the prosecutor and lead detective.

As the verdict was read, family members clutched hands and dabbed at eyes with tissues, waiting until they were outside the courtroom to cry and embrace one another.

“Jarrae’s death was not in vain,” said Jodi Estepp, Jarrae Estepp’s mother. “We got closure today and that helps. I can’t say its justice, but it is a little bit of peace.”

The mother said that at first she was initially appalled at Gordon’s decision to represent himself in the capital murder trial.

“But now I’m glad, because I got to see the ugliness, and so did everyone else,” Jodi Estepp said.

Yolanda Linder, Jarrae Estepp’s aunt, said her family was confident that they would get justice for her niece.

“She was a fighter, and she got them in the end,” Linder said. “They are off the streets and those monsters can’t hurt other families like they hurt us.”

Snip:An Orange County jury on Wednesday decided a serial killer should be executed for the abduction and murder of four women.

Representing himself at his trial in Santa Ana, Steven Dean Gordon did not dispute his responsibility for the deaths of the women, who had been working as prostitutes in Anaheim and Santa Ana in late 2013 and early 2014.

Nor in his closing argument to jurors Tuesday did Gordon, 47, disagree with a prosecutor's argument that he ought to be executed for his crimes.

"If you kill four people like this in cold blood, you deserve to die — I believe that," Gordon told jurors. "My actions were evil and horrible, and you're gonna get your justice very shortly."

He said he was sorry to have caused pain to the families of Kianna Jackson, 20; Josephine Vargas, 34; Martha Anaya, 27; and Jarrae Estepp, 21 — the women he was convicted last week of killing.

Gordon told jurors he had to fire his public defender because she would not let him plead guilty and he wanted to speed the case along. He also said he had to take the case to trial because defendants representing themselves cannot plead guilty in capital cases under the law.

With the voters recently opting to get rid of the death penalty, he won't be put to death, however, maybe he is will spend the rest of his miserable life in prison and off the streets so he will not be able to murder another woman.